Be prepared to deal with bugs! We hiked midweek, Monday thru Friday and only encountered two mountain bikers on the way to eagle lakes on the first day. Very buggy so we moved to Boiling lake on the second day. The bugs were not as bad but still annoying. Day hiked to Hoodoo Pass and Chipmunk Pass the 3rd day. On the 4th day hiked to Cooney Lake. Beware of confusing trail signage, The Green tails map #115 has you taking trail #1255.1 out of boiling Lake to trail #1259.3, and then trail #1259.32 off the valley to the ridge for to access Coney Lake. Wrong. The trail from Boiling Lake to Cooney Lake is signed on the trail as; Angel's Staircase with a different trail number. This is the same trail, take it! The views from up here were incredible. Take this trail about 1.5 mi. up to the saddle, traverse east-north-east along the rise and then descend down to the lake. We were advised by a mountain biker to camp at the upper lake (tarn) for a better breeze to help deal with the bugs.
Completing the loop back to the Crater Lake Trailhead we descended about 1/2 mi. to Cooney Lake just past the horse camp and came to a Tee marked as # 429 Martin Lake Trail. Go left. There is no indication which way leads to the trailhead. The other way descends to the Foggy trailhead.
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